1 New genus of extinct Holocene gibbon associated with 2 humans in Imperial China 3 4Summary: We describe a new globally extinct genus and species of gibbon from 5 a late Holocene royal tomb in China, representing the first documented primate 6 extinction from a postglacial continental ecosystem, and suggesting that until 7 recently eastern Asia supported a previously unknown, historically extinct 8 endemic radiation of apes. 9 10Authors: Samuel T. Turvey1,*, Kristoffer Bruun2, Alejandra Ortiz3, James 11 Hansford1,4, Songmei Hu5, Yan Ding5, Tianen Zhang5, Helen J. Chatterjee2 12 131 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London NW1 144RY, UK. 2Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College 15London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. 3Institute of Human Origins, 16 School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, 17AZ 85281, USA. 4Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre 18 Southampton, University of Southampton Waterfront Campus, Southampton, UK. 195 Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an 710054, China. 20 21 To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email:
[email protected] 1 22 Although all extant apes are threatened with extinction, there is no 23 evidence for human-caused extinctions of apes or other primates in 24 postglacial continental ecosystems, despite intensive anthropogenic 25 pressures associated with biodiversity loss for millennia in many regions. 26 Here we report a new, globally extinct genus and species of gibbon, Junzi 27 imperialis, described from a partial cranium and mandible from a ~2,200- 28 2,300 year-old tomb from Shaanxi, China. Junzi can be differentiated from 29 extant hylobatid genera and the extinct Quaternary gibbon Bunopithecus 30 using univariate and multivariate analyses of craniodental morphometric 31 data.